Baring all for a good cause

The Miss Hawaiian Tropic International contest heats, held at the Sydney Junction Hotel over the last two weeks, were a real hit with contestants and patrons. SJ’s Chris Stratton tells us more…

Over the past two weeks, the Sydney Junction Hotel has played host to some of Newcastle and Sydney’s most beautiful and stylish women, all of whom were competing to be crowned Glamcorp’s Miss Hawaiian Tropic International. The Bikini contest is well regarded as a major stepping stone for models aspiring to make it onto the world stage, a journey that even our very own Jennifer Hawkins has taken.

When Clare Rogers (owner of the Sydney Junction Hotel) was asked if she would be interested in hosting this year’s Miss Hawaiian Tropic contest, she was in total disbelief, more so because the deadline was less than 2 weeks away from consultation.

“I knew it was going to be tight, I’ve coordinated fashion runways before with my own fashion label and it can be total chaos. When I heard about the position the competition was in due to the closure of the previous establishment, I thought to myself why not give it a go and help out.”

The Miss Hawaiian Tropic International was historically held at the Great Northern Hotel however, due to its recent closure, the event needed a new venue to call home.

The venue set up at SJ’s was without doubt, one of the best modelling displays the competition has ever seen. Liz Kirkness, former 2015 Australian Miss Hawaiian Tropic International champion states, “Clare has done an outstanding job! I’ve been on a number of international circuits and this is by far the best runway I’ve ever seen. The girls were treated like stars the crowd was fantastic and very supportive.”

Bikini contest are traditionally trivial, however this time round The Sydney Junction Hotel saw this as an opportunity to not only promote the girls, but also raise money for a good cause. “We know events like these always draw a crowd, we got the girls involved and got people to donate money to Newcastle Cancer Council during the event. One of our Staff members Chris Sratton is a contestant in this year’s Cancer Council Stars of Newcastle. We raised over $1,500 in one night alone which was a great result.

The event was a great success, with over 200 people, VIP seating was $20 a head with all proceeds going to directly the Cancer Council with similar events to come in the future. The Winner of the venue final was Tara Borich. Tara will now go on to represent Newcastle and the Sydney Junction Hotel at the Shooters night Club in the Gold Coast on the 17th of June competing for the national title.